Welcome to the St. Anthony Shrine
Community. All are welcome here.
No one is excluded.
Please take this bulletin home with you as
well as the many brochures that advertise
the programs and services of the Shrine.
Thank you for being with us today.
Franciscan friars and staff
St. Anthony Shrine community
REGULAR EVENTS
Monday
Tuesday

SAINTS AND SPECIAL OBSERVANCES
Sunday:
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time;
Boy Scout Sunday
The Presentation of the Lord;
Monday:
World Day for Consecrated Life;
Blessing of Candles; Groundhog Day
Tuesday:
St. Blaise; St. Ansgar; Blessing of
Throats;
Tu B’Shvat (Jewish new year of trees)
begins at sunset
Thursday:
St. Agatha
Friday:
St. Paul Miki and companions;
First Friday
Saturday:
Blessed Virgin Mary; First Saturday

Saturday, February 7, 2015, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lunch will be provided (pre-registration required)
Saint Monica-Saint Augustine Parish
331 Old Colony Avenue, South Boston
For lay persons, religious, and clergy
Free and open to all Catholics

Keynote Speaker: Rev. Bryan J. Hehir
Secretary of Health and Social Services for the
Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
Keynote Panel: The Labor Guild, Catholic Scholars for
Social Justice, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, and
other allies!

We are leading a multi-faith movement for economic
justice. Pope Francis calls the Catholic Church to the
forefront of social action for workers’ rights. Aided by the
Holy Spirit, we hear the cry of workers, especially
immigrants, women, and people of color.

We are empowering Catholics in the Archdiocese of
Boston to be leaders in our faith-based organization.
Join us as we praise God, share our stories, celebrate
worker victories, and take practical steps to build our
organization.

Volume 34 No. 2 February 2015
a monthly publication of St. Anthony Shrine

A New Fool
The Franciscan Order had grown quickly. In
ten years it had gone from twelve friars to over three
thousand. The presence of St. Francis alone was no
longer sufficient. Talk of a Rule was circulating more
among many of the brothers. The year was 1219. A
large number of friars had gathered for a meeting,
which was called “The Chapter of Mats,” given that
name because of what the friars used for sleeping in
the fields near the church of Saint Mary of the
Portiuncula. During the meeting, some of the more
learned thought someone should approach the Saint
to suggest a Rule be formally written. They
encouraged something based upon existing Rules of
the time: those of the Benedictines, Cistercians, or the
Augustinians. The Cardinal Protector of the friars,
Cardinal Hugolino, (who would later become Pope
Gregory IX) was also present at the meeting. These
learned friars had persuaded him to deliver their
suggestion. He was to demonstrate to Francis the
wisdom of their advice. Those making this request,
the storyteller describes specifically, as certain “wise
and learned brothers.” He refers to them twice as
“wise.” In his response St. Francis was unyielding.
His vision of a Rule should entail something more
unique and therefore could not be covered by the
Rules in existence.
Then blessed Francis, on hearing the
Cardinal’s advice about this, took him by the
hand and led him to the brothers assembled in
chapter, and spoke to the brothers in this way:
“My brothers! My brother! God has called me
by the way of simplicity and showed me the
way of simplicity. I do not want you to
mention to me any Rule, whether of Saint
Augustine, or of Saint Benedict, or of Saint
Bernard. And the Lord told me what he
wanted. He wanted me to be a new fool in the
world.”
The story ends with the following reaction of those
present: “The Cardinal was shocked, and said
nothing, and all brothers were afraid.” The Saint had
countered the wise and learned with his desire to be
“a new fool.”
4

Throughout history the fool has been seen as
entertaining but also as someone who could upset the
established order with his pranks. He was not held to
the same standards as other men. In Shakespeare’s
King Lear he could say things to the king no one else
would dare say. He could remind the king how much
they had in common, this to a king who had foolishly
given away his kingdom. Therefore humor and the
banter of the fool might easily hide a serious message,
something coming from someone who really
possessed another kind of wisdom. He signaled a
source of fresh ideas and could circulate new energy.
His unconventional behavior and his inability to be
insulted allowed him a freedom rare for that time. In
somewhat the same spirit the Middle Ages celebrated
a Feast of Fools. It consisted of a day when society
would be turned upside down. The poor would dress
and act as rulers, while those in power would
surrender their prerogatives for the day. It provided a
time for release, a time when a mild form of anarchy
was accepted. People could act like fools.
Societies tended to take care of their fools. His
simplicity endeared them to people. He was referred
to at times as “les amis de Dieu,” the friends of God.
People thought him touched by the hand of God. He
witnessed to a simplicity that called people back to
childhood and allowed them another form of
enjoyment and behavior, one fostered by a freer flow
of nature.
The fool had stripped himself of
conventional logic and the expected patterns of the
world around them. He stood outside of the average
man. His home was more comfortably established on
the margins of ordinary living. And from that perch
he could prevent the world in which he mingled from
becoming stale because his simplicity also brought the
gift of excitement. His excitement would not hesitate
to take risks, to make a fool of himself. He would just
let himself go. In that rashness he demonstrated
another expression of freedom. But this spontaneity
carried with it a certain amount of intuitive wisdom,
maybe madness or folly, but also a serious connection
to the human spirit. He stood as a force of vitality.
The fool could usually be found where there was
action. And if no action was brewing, he would stir
up some.
St. Paul takes up the role of the fool, and like
St. Francis, also places him within the context of
Gospel teaching. In his first letter to the Corinthians,
Paul moves back and forth between the notions of the
wisdom and foolishness:
Let no one delude himself. If any one of you
thinks he is wise in a worldly way, he had
better become a fool. In that way he will really
Saint Anthony Shrine “The Church on Arch Street”

be wise, for the wisdom of this world is
absurdity with God. Scripture says, “He
catches the wise in their craftiness;” and again,
“The Lord knows how empty are the thoughts
of the wise” (1 Corinthians 3, 18-20).
And Paul continues in the next chapter: “We have
become a spectacle to the universe, to angels and men
alike. We are fools on Christ’s account” (1
Corinthians 4, 9-10).
All of these bits and pieces from history and
Scripture weave a tapestry of Francis of Assisi. Which
may be why people loved him and wanted to be like
him, or near him. He brought them back to their
childhood faith, to a new simplicity, and to a new way
of viewing what was really important in life. He went
to the core of what makes our lives significant without
needing help from the complicated wisdom of society.
He freed himself of all that makes life complex and
therefore could play before the Lord without being
burdened by concerns for what people might think.
He lived out his Christian faith openly and without
apologies. He was truly a fool for Christ’s sake. And
people loved him for it.

Response
“The wisdom of the fool.” Institutions need
fools, people willing to risk much for the chance to point
to the big picture, when many are seeing only the reality
they want to see, the portion of the whole which for them
is all that matters. Acknowledging only a part of the
whole can be disastrous; many however are willing to
risk the worst in order to get what they think is best.

There are, then, fools of folly and fools of
wisdom. Each suffers discomfort, for different reasons.
The fools of folly, because they make a reality out of
nothing, and are embarrassed. The fools of wisdom,
because they point to a reality that is not obvious, and
are persecuted.
A true Christian is by nature a fool, holding fast
to the very apparently ridiculous: life out of death, peace
out of suffering, hunger out of satiety. The Christian fool
makes fools out of other Christians, those who would
serve both God and mammon. Francis of Assisi stood up
to a Christendom awash in it's own self-satisfaction;
Pope Francis stands up to a Church leadership drowning
in its own self-confidence. Both were and are called
fools, yet they enlighten those who want to see and
enliven those who are willing to listen.
Fools force us to see what is, when we are
content with what satisfies. Fools poke holes in the
fabric of self-deception, setting the starkness of the Cross
against the apparent comforts of civilization. The wise
fool comes from the center of things, and points to the
folly of peripheral insight. The toleration of wise fools
requires that those who are in power or are able to act in
a given situation can imagine without fear alternatives to
a given course of action. Rare indeed are those who
accept the limits of their situation as of possible value
and are therefore completely open to possible
alternatives. The wise fool defends the “big picture”
against those who would artificially narrow the insight.
Be a fool for Christ's sake! Point out the
nakedness of leaders clothed only in their own selfassurance. Call upon others to join in the ranks of those
thought foolish by those in power. Jesus is, in the eyes of
the world, the ultimate fool. Let us be strong enough to
stand with him!

The fool in literature has integrity, is honest, and
speaks his or her mind. Above all, the fool has
maintained a certain innocence, a need to say: “That’s
not how it is.” The story of the Emperor’s new clothes
comes to mind. In it thieves convince a vain, selfcentered emperor that they have woven a suit of
marvelous quality. It does not exist, he cannot see it, yet
neither he nor his courtiers want to be thought stupid, so
they convince themselves that is it real. The emperor
appears, clothed in nothing but his pride and all praise
the excellent quality of the garment - except a little boy,
who cries out ”The Emperor is naked,” to the
embarrassment of all. How often has any one of us stuck
our necks out, and, in any sense, made fools of
ourselves?
100 Arch Street • Boston, Massachusetts 02110 • 617.542.6440

unday’s Responsorial Psalm evokes for me
the beautiful setting of that psalm that David
Haas wrote. Maybe you have heard the
music: “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not
your hearts.” As a composer, I can understand
some of the devices he used to make his setting
work so well, but I don’t really concentrate on any
of them. I am taken away by the luxury of the
music.
And luxury it would be to come so close to God’s
voice! Sunday’s readings give us some wise
examples of hearing God’s voice but also of the
hardening of hearts!
As to the latter, we hear Moses tell what happened
when he brought the ten commandments down
from the mountain (First Reading). Here is the
original description:
… As all the people witnessed the thunder
and lightning, the blast of the shofar and
the mountain smoking, they became afraid
and trembled. So they took up a position
farther away and said to Moses, “you speak
to us, and we will listen; but do not let God
speak to us, or we shall die.” …
So the people remained at a distance, while
Moses approached the dark cloud where
God was. (Exodus 20:18-19, 21)

Fear, plain old fear, was the distance-maker. And
who would not be filled with fear from such a
sight?
God knew about this terror and conceded that
instead of appearing directly he would raise up a
prophet “from among their kin” to speak his
words.

Participants will learn how to come into the present
moment with Jesus and thereby enter the Kingdom
of God. We will integrate the teachings of Jesus
and the insights of Tolle to help us to enter a
deeper way of living.
Contact Dr. Jackie Stewart to register at 617-542-6440
ext. 143 or email SAS.Evang@gmail.com.
Please leave your name, telephone no., and the
course, date/time you wish to attend.
Offered by Franciscan Adult School

Contact Dr. Jackie Stewart to register at 617-542-6440
ext. 143 or email SAS.Evang@gmail.com.
Please leave your name, telephone no., and the event,
date/time you wish to attend. After February 22,
please call Barbara Bryson to register at 617-268-0964
Offered by Franciscan Adult School

Adult Confirmation Preparation
Adult Confirmation Classes—2015

Saturdays, April 11, 18, 25; May 2 & 9 (2015).
10:30 a.m. to Noon, 2nd fl. classroom
Have you been Baptized and made First
Communion in the Catholic Church but are not
yet confirmed?
Candidates for Confirmation are adults (ages 20
and over). who participate in Sunday Liturgy and
the sacraments. Prospective candidates for
Confirmation in Spring 2015 need to pre-register
by Monday, March 30 2015. Copy of Baptismal
certificate is required.

Candidates will be confirmed at the Regional
Confirmation on Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at
St. Cecilia’s Church in the South End.

Registrations are now being accepted. Please
contact Dr. Jackie Stewart at 617-542-6440, ext.
143 or email SAS.Evang@gmail.com for more
details and to register or see flyers in lobby.
Offered by Evangelization

You are invited to join Fr. Raphael Bonanno,
OFM and Go-Ahead Tours to

Imperial China, Cruise the Yangtze
River and visit Shanghai
October 14-28, 2015

Bookings are $450 each, Final payment due July
16, 2015. Total cost is $4,274 each with JFK
gateway. More information in brochures at front
desk of Shrine. Book early before sellout of trip.
The trip will be educational and inspirational. Visa
required.